10 Biggest Box Office Bombs That Lost Millions

Sin City: A Dame To Kill For opened last month with staggeringly low $6.3 million opening weekend at the U.S. box office. Most wrote it off as a major bomb considering that it reportedly had a $70 million budget. But does Sin City: A Dame To Kill For make the list of the biggest box office bombs of all time? Actually, despite its current woes at the box office the Sin City sequel isn't even close to landing on the list of the biggest bombs in box office history. That list is reserved for films that did so poorly that they ruined the careers of studio executives, producers, and directors and, in some cases, forced the closure of entire studios. There isnt an exact science when it comes to calculating a films profits or losses. Hollywood only releases estimated figures and studios attempt to downplay losses with crafty accounting. However, studios roughly split U.S. box office grosses with theatres, and studios receive smaller splits when it comes to the foreign box office (each territory has a different take). To roughly calculate losses, worldwide grosses were halved and subtracted from the highest production budget estimates available. Even though these are estimated figures, its safe to say these ten films are among the biggest money-losers of all time. However, just because a film has production costs of $50 million doesnt mean it only needs to earn $100 million at the box office to break even. Studios must spend additional money on marketing the film on television, billboards, and any other way they can  and particularly huge marketing expenses are mentioned throughout to show other ways that these films lost money. After reviewing this list of the biggest box office bombs, let us know what you think was the worst of the worst in the comments!

Chris McKittrick is a published author of fiction and non-fiction and has spoken about film and comic books at conferences across the United States. In addition to his work at WhatCulture!, he is a regular contributor to CreativeScreenwriting.com, MovieBuzzers.com, and DailyActor.com, a website focused on acting in all media. For more information, visit his website at http://www.chrismckit.com.

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